Thursday the 6th

John 18:  ²³"If I said something wrong," Jesus replied, "testify as to what is wrong. But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?"

 

The truth is a hard thing to hear sometimes. We don’t like it, we don’t like the way it makes us feel, and we don’t like the way it makes us think about ourselves. So we strike out at whatever is close by, and typically it is the person who is speaking the truth. There is a couple of things to learn form this encounter that Christ had with the high priest. The truth is a concrete thing. There are not shades of the truth, there is just the truth. Everything else that we put out….we like to call it, ”sugar coating” it is just is just a diminished version of the truth. While we do that to save others feelings, there are times when we cannot sugar coat the truth because we cannot afford to have the point missed. This is how it is when it comes to our faith…..or our lack of it. The truth must be spoken, and once you do that a few times it becomes easier to do. Christ never had a problem speaking the plain and simple truth. Yes you might upset some people but it is that emotion that well evoke change. But then we have the flip side, see, we are not perfect, we will make mistakes, we will get it wrong…..and we will be called out on it. How do we handle that? Yes being a good Christian is certainly looking out for your fellow Christian, and searching for the lost, but it is also recognizing our own short comings, and not just accepting them, but working to change them.  You want to see a surprised look? The next time someone calls you out for one of your shortcomings, if it is in fact something you did, don’t defend yourself, just say “I know, I am working on that”. In short own it. Our knee jerk reaction is to strike back, to inflict pain as quickly as possible, typically at a rate of two hurts to their one! Don’t fall into that trap of the devil! It chips away at your soul, It keeps you from growing as a Christian. How will we reach our potential if we are not willing to work on half of the equation? That emotion that you understand others need to feel sometimes to bring about change, cuts both ways, and when we feel it, we should recognize it, and if it is honest criticism, then we should own it. I will be the first to tell you, it is not fun, and I will concede that it is a hard thing to do; but if we work on ourselves as hard as we work on others, we will see in the mirror a glimpse of the person that God sees when He looks at us.

 

 

God Bless,

Brian Thetford

The New Covenant Church

www.thenewcovenantchurch.com

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